Blueberry Paska

By April 1, 2021Blog

PASKA DOUGH INGREDIENTS:

5 cups Klaassen Farms frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup sugar
1 medium lemon
1 medium orange
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
Approximately 7 cups of flour 

BLUEBERRY INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Place desired cups of frozen blueberries in a saucepan on medium heat and add ½ cup white sugar and a few tablespoons of flour.
  2. Simmer into a sauce for 15 minutes, leaving blueberries as intact as possible. Let cool.

PASKA INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a large bowl, put your yeast, sugar and warm water and let sit 10 minutes.
  2. Take your citrus and peel it very thin with a potato or vegetable peeler. Do not leave any of the white parts of the peel. Put the thinly sliced peel in the blender.
  3. Once you have removed and discarded the white pith of the citrus, chop your lemon and orange, removing all the seeds. Add the chopped lemon and orange to the blender.
  4. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter and milk until the butter melts or do it in a saucepan on the stove.
  5. Once it is melted add it to the blender. Start the blender and begin to puree.
  6. Start the blender on high and allow the citrus, peel and milk, butter mixture to run for about 2 or 3 minutes.
  7. Add the eggs, sugar, and salt.
  8. Continue to run the blender for another minute or two until very smooth.
  9. Measure the milk/citrus and sugar mixture it should be about 4 1/2 cups. If you have a bit less or more then that is fine, adjust the flour as needed.
  10. Pour the mixture along with the yeast mixture into a large bowl or use the bowl of your kitchen machine, using the dough hook.
  11. Add flour one cup at a time until you have a smooth soft dough it will be sticky. With a plastic bowl, it is easy to tell when the dough has enough flour because it will stop sticking to the side of the bowl but with a metal bowl you really do need to stop the mixer often and touch your dough before adding additional flour. Knead the last bit of flour by hand, a little at a time until it is smooth. Do not add more than 7 1/2 cups flour to allow it to remain sticky.
  12. Use the amount of flour a guide, if your dough is still super sticky add a little more flour a dusting at a time. Don’t despair if you think it is still too sticky, slowly add a dusting more, turn the dough on the counter and knead until you are out of flour again and then give it another dusting and continue this way until it looks silky and is elastic.
  13. After kneading it by hand or with the machine for about 8 – 10 minutes, transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, a tea towel and allow to rise until doubled. This should take about an hour to an hour and a half.
  14. Add 5 cups of blueberries into a sauce pan with 1/2 cup white sugar and a few tablespoons of flour
  15. Simmer blueberries on medium heat for at least 15 minutes, keep blueberries intact and cook until you have a thick sauce and let cool.
  16. At this point, give your dough a bit of a punch down and let rest at least 10 minutes or up to another hour.
  17. During this time prepare your pans, spray with pam or grease with butter. Make loaves while adding in desired amounts of blueberries. Let rise until doubled in bulk, or for about an hour to an hour and a half. Or for easy clean up place formed bread onto parchment line pans for a quicker cleanup.
  18. Preheat the oven to 350 F. If you have a convection oven, set it at 325 F. Bake the loaves approximately 20 – 30 minutes depending on the size of your pans.
  19. Gently remove from pans and place on cooling racks.  Once they are completely cool, put them in the freezer or enjoy! If you will not eat all the bread within a day or 2, do freeze as it quickly goes stale.

 

ICING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3 cups icing sugar
2-4 tbsp cream (or milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla

ICING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Beat all ingredients together until light and smooth, spread or drizzle desired amounts on paska

Photography by Yarrow Side Creatives

Recipe is adapted from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Bernadette Maguire

Author Bernadette Maguire

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